


like lightning

by nightswatch



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Elevators, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Roadie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 09:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8281361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: In a moment of extreme childishness, Nursey pushes a few buttons too many on the elevator to piss off Dex. And Dex is probably gonna murder him for it.





	

“Dude, that goal…”

“Honestly.”

“Fucking perfect.”

Bitty’s face is beet-red and he’s trying to hide behind a menu card, but his smile is so big that Nursey is pretty sure that Bitty wouldn’t mind if they kept going. It was a damn sweet goal. And it won them the game.

Jack and Shitty have been all over the group chat and Nursey’s phone has been vibrating with incoming texts so much that he eventually just put it on silent. Well. Shitty has been all over the group chat. Jack only sent an, _Amazing goal, Bittle_ , followed by a, _You all did a great job, of course_.

“Seriously,” Ransom says and takes the menu card away from Bitty, “the ‘swawesomest goal of all time.”

“Gosh, y’all need to stop,” Bitty says and hides his face behind his hands.

Lardo pats his head.

Their waitress approaches their table with a wary smile. Even though it’s only a fourth of the team, plus Lardo, they’re about as loud as the entire roster. Ransom and Holster insisted that they should go out and celebrate their win even though they’re on a roadie and they’re all knackered. Honestly, Nursey could fall asleep right here, right now, sitting up, with the jukebox in the corner playing 80s synth pop.

They order drinks but they haven’t even gotten around to properly looking at the menu, so their waitress shuffles away. Bitty gives her an apologetic smile and tells her that they’ll need a few more minutes.

They have to be up early tomorrow morning and they have a curfew, which is why most of the team opted for early nights and moderately quiet hotel room gatherings. So it’s only Ransom and Holster, Bitty, Lardo, and him and Dex. He’s surprised that Dex tagged along; he looks like he’s ready to drop dead, but he’s still smiling at Bitty.

Ransom and Holster took them to a greasy 24-hour diner across the street from their hotel. There are pictures of long-forgotten rock stars on the walls, interspersed with neon signs and old beer ads. There’s a broken cuckoo clock on the wall behind them. The six of them are squeezed into a booth with a round table and Nursey is closer to Dex than he thinks is good for his health.

It’s mostly his heart rate he’s worried about.

It’s a thing that happens these days. When Dex barreled into him on the ice after the end of the game and hugged Nursey so tightly that he wasn’t sure how breathing worked for a second, it happened, too. Nursey is telling himself that it’s temporary. It is, after all, just a _thing_. He sometimes has things for people. And now one of those people is Dex.

Anyway, those things go away.

It’s just a little unfortunate that it’s Dex, because, well, it’s _Dex_.

Nursey looks up when Bitty yelps and ducks out of the way of Holster’s hand, undoubtedly on a mission to ruffle his hair.

Dex snorts and Nursey allows himself a fleeting glance.

The problem is, there’s this weird tension between them. It’s always been there, probably ever since the day they first met, and at first Nursey put it down to them being wholly different people. They just clash in every way possible. But Nursey feels like it has changed somehow. 

Dex catches him looking and there it is again.

Nursey averts his gaze. He tries to find something else to look at, anything else. There are two old guys at the counter, eating pie that’s probably not as good as Bitty’s. And there’s a group of girls, probably their age, at a table closer to the door.

One of them looks up just when he is desperate to find something other than Dex to stare at and his eyes fall on their table. The girl smiles. Nursey smiles back at her.

Holster notices and turns around, his smirk devious. “Well, well…”

“What?” Dex asks.

“Nothing,” Nursey says and elbows him in the ribs.

“Asshole,” Dex mutters.

“Boys,” Bitty says. “Behave.”

“Listen to Bits, Nursey, he won us the game.”

“He started it,” Nursey says and pokes his finger into Dex’s upper arm. Dex has nice upper arms, objectively speaking. Nice. And firm. Very nice. Nursey drops his hand.

“I did not.”

“You so did.”

“I’ll have you know that–”

Their waitress reappears with their drinks and asks if they’re ready to order their food.

They’re not.

*

“Earth to Nursey?”

“Huh?”

“Dude, that chick can’t be more beautiful than _us_ ,” Ransom says.

Holster glances over his shoulder again. “Bro, she totally is.”

Ransom turns around as well. “Bro…”

Nursey throws his balled-up napkin at them. “Be a bit more obvious about it, why don’t you? I’m just being friendly.”

Dex huffs.

“What is it now, Poindexter, do you have a problem with me being friendly?”

Look, that girl keeps smiling at him, and she’s pretty, and if Nursey wants to smile right back at her, why shouldn’t he? It’s not like he’s hurting anyone. He nearly spilled his drink over the table when he got distracted while they were eating, but only _nearly_. He’s having a good time. And so is she, by the looks of it.

Dex gives him the side-eye of death. “Guess you’re the friendliest person on the planet.”

Nursey grins. Yep, he totally is.

They don’t stick around for much longer. Bitty is yawning and Ransom is resting his head against Holster’s shoulder. Lardo waves over their waitress to ask for the check. They leave her an extra big tip to make up for all the noise.

As they file out of the diner one by one, Nursey slows his steps when they reach the girls’ table. Dex is right behind him and deliberately walks into him when he stops. But Nursey’s smiley friend said, “Hi,” and how could he not stop and say _hi_ back real quick?

“Hey,” Nursey says.

One of the girl’s equally smiley friends leans across the table. “Who’s your friend?” she asks and winks at Dex.

Dex splutters.

“This is Dex,” Nursey says and puts his arm around Dex’s shoulder when Dex doesn’t say a word. Nursey doesn’t think too much about Dex’s shoulders. He’s so not going down that road.

“Guys, come on,” Lardo says. She’s hovering in the door; Bitty, Ransom and Holster are already outside and Holster is giving Bitty a piggyback ride back across the street to their hotel by the looks of it.

“One second,” Nursey says.

“Dude,” Dex says and nudges him. “We’re going.”

Nursey waves at his smiling friends who giggle as Dex shoves him towards the door. Bitty, Holster and Ransom are already across the street; Lardo followed them as soon as she saw that they were coming.

“I just wanted one second,” Nursey says to Dex as they wait for a handful of cars to pass. “One teensy second.”

“You’ll live,” Dex says. He sounds pissed off. And, okay, when _doesn’t_ he sound pissed off, but Nursey thought that Dex was in a pretty good mood until, like, two seconds ago.

“Can you maybe not be pissed off every single second of every single day? You need to relax, bro.”

“Well, not everyone can be as _friendly_ as you are, Nurse,” Dex spits and then walks across the street.

Nursey nearly follows him without looking, but then he sees headlights approaching out of the corner of his eyes and resigns himself to waiting a few more seconds. Because waiting a few more seconds is definitely not as much of an issue for him as it is for Dex.

He watches as Dex vanishes into their hotel and then hurries across the street as soon as he’s not in danger of getting run over. When Nursey makes it inside, Dex has already stepped into an empty elevator. Bitty, Lardo, Ransom and Holster have obviously decided not to wait for them.

And Dex doesn’t seem to want to wait for him either, because he’s pushing the button that closes the elevator doors and, oh, _it is on_. Nursey breaks into a run, ignoring the weird look the guy behind the reception gives him, and hops into the elevator alongside Dex just as the doors start to slide shut.

Maybe he should have allowed Dex a few minutes without him, because they’re sharing a room and Dex’s mood isn’t about to get any better. Nursey could go hang out with the rest of the team for a bit; he’s pretty sure that they’re still hanging out in Chowder and Bitty’s room.

Dex glares at him and pushes the button for the 9th floor.

Look, Nursey wouldn’t say that he’s an inherently vindictive person. He’s very much in favor of letting people do their thing. _You do you_ and all that. If Dex wants to be pissy even though it’s only hours after what might have been their best game of the season, then that’s _fine_. Whatever. It’s who Dex is. Nursey is used to it.

But a couple of hours ago they were clinging to each other on the ice and laughing because they won and it wasn’t an easy win and Dex was so happy and now he’s descended back into grumpiness. William Poindexter and his moods are an enigma.

Nursey isn’t sure why his reaction to a pissed-off Dex is pissing Dex off even more.

He’s not sure why he reaches out and pushes the button for the second floor. He’s not sure why he pushes the button for the third floor either, or all the other buttons leading up to the 9 that’s already lit up.

The doors slide shut.

Dex is dangerously silent. He turns to stare at Nursey and the look on his face doesn’t take an expert to read. Even though, by now, Nursey has a BA in Reading Dex’s Facial Expressions. It’s a very clear, _Why the fuck would you do this?_

“You started it,” Nursey says, petulant. Because, seriously, Dex was the one who was so insistent on not having him in this elevator. And now he’s gonna have to be in this elevator with him for even longer.

It might have not been the greatest idea Nursey has ever had.

“I started it?” Dex asks. “Why, because I kept you from being,” he scoffs, “ _friendly_?”

The doors slide open on the second floor, revealing a stretch of empty hallway, blank walls and ugly carpet.

Dex sighs.

The doors slide shut.

“You pushed that button,” Nursey nods at the _close doors_ button in question. “I’m sorry I’m such terrible company.”

“You’re–”

The doors slide open on the third floor.

Empty hallway.

The doors slide shut once more.

It’s when they’re on the fourth floor that Dex lets out a groan. “I hate you,” he says, with feeling.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m sort of starting to regret this,” Nursey says.

“Oh, you’re starting to regret it _now_?”

Fifth floor. More empty hallway.

Dex glares at him.

Nursey doesn’t glare back, but he still looks at Dex, at his drawn eyebrows and the teeth worrying at his bottom lip. Nursey’s eyes linger there, on Dex’s lips, soft and pink and– Nursey’s heart kicks it up a notch.

He sucks in a deep breath.

Sixth floor.

They’re on opposite sides, there’s room for about three people plus their massive suitcases between them, but the elevator feels too small all of a sudden. Dex isn’t glaring anymore, he’s just looking now. Nursey is looking back, and he wants– He can’t want this.

It’s just a thing. A thing that’ll go away on its own soon enough. A temporary thing. A thing he has for his teammate. For his friend. For Dex.

Dex, who won’t look away.

Nursey almost misses when the doors slide open again on the seventh floor. He doesn’t turn his head to look at yet another empty hallway. He keeps his eyes on Dex, waiting, although he’s not sure what exactly it is that he’s waiting for.

There’s something in the air between them. Something that makes him feel like lightning is about to strike.

Eighth floor.

*

Nursey doesn’t know which one of them moves first.

He doesn’t know why he moved at all, but one second he crosses his arms so his hands won’t be able to do anything stupid and the next he’s in the middle of the elevator and Dex is right there with him.

Did he move when Dex moved? Did Dex move when he moved?

Dex’s hands are at his sides now, Nursey’s arms are slung around Dex’s shoulders and he doesn’t know how they ended up there, but it’s a good place for them, because that way he can keep Dex close. Dex. Who’s sort of his kissing him right now. Scratch the _sort of_ , Dex is seriously, for real, kissing him and Nursey is kissing him back and it’s _wild_. It’s frantic, and messy, and Nursey doesn’t think he’d be exaggerating if he called this the best kiss of his entire life.

They’re almost on the ninth floor and Nursey doesn’t want to stop. He _can’t_ stop.

Dex sucks at his bottom lip and Nursey whines, his fingers twisting into Dex’s short hair, tugging hard. He can feel Dex’s fingers twitch against his sides before Dex moves his hands, sliding them to the small of Nursey’s back, pulling him closer, bringing their hips together and, _oh_ , Nursey is going to die right here in this elevator, isn’t he?

The doors slide open and they still.

They both stare out into the empty hallway, Dex’s arms still wrapped around Nursey’s waist, Nursey’s hand still in Dex’s hair. Neither of them moves until the doors start to slide shut again and Dex takes a step away from him to hold them open.

He still has a hand on Nursey’s hip, though.

Nursey grabs that hand, because they can’t stay in this elevator, as much as Nursey wants to stay in this moment, and pulls Dex out into the hallway. It’s quiet, eerily so. Their footsteps are muffled by the ugly bluish-gray carpet as they walk to their room, passing door after identical door.

They stop in front of number 924 and Nursey fumbles with his keycard because Dex is right next to him and that feeling from earlier is still there between them, that crackle in the air. Dex plucks the keycard from his hand, their fingers brushing, and it’s such a small thing, but he can feel that touch all over.

The door swings open and Nursey stumbles inside, pulling Dex with him. It takes mere seconds to push the door shut, to switch on the lights, to get Dex out of his jacket, to get out of his own, to pin Dex against that door, to lean in again. Dex’s lips part without much coaxing and warm hands slip under Nursey’s shirt as they kiss.

“Nursey,” Dex says between kisses.

“Huh?”

“Is this…”

Nursey presses a kiss to the side of Dex’s neck and it makes Dex’s breath hitch, so Nursey does it again.

Dex lets his head fall back against the door. “What are we doing?”

“Um,” Nursey says, letting his lips brush against Dex’s neck as he speaks. He flicks his tongue against Dex’s skin and feels him shiver.

“Nursey…”

“Are you freaking out on me?”

“No,” Dex says indignantly.

Which is good, although Nursey feels like he might freak out about this at some point. There’s only so much chill a person can have. But he’ll save the freaking out for when he’s on his own. He has a reputation to uphold after all.

“I just…” Dex grabs Nursey by the hips and pushes him away, holding him at an arm’s length. He’s outright staring at Nursey. Nursey can’t say that the minds. “This is okay, right?”

“What?” Nursey asks.

“It’s not gonna… make things weird?”

“Dex,” Nursey says. He takes Dex’s hand off his hips and pulls him towards his bed. “You think too much.”

“One of us has to do some thinking,” Dex says, but follows him without another word of complaint.

Instead of replying, Nursey kisses him and they tumble into bed, Dex hovering above him for a moment, just looking, just taking it all in, and he smiles a little and Nursey finds himself wondering if anyone has ever looked at him like this before.

He’s sure that he wouldn’t get tired of looking at Dex. Nursey has really spent too much time trying _not_ to look at Dex lately.

He’s not trying anymore.

*

When Nursey wakes up, he’s comfortably warm and his face is buried in something soft. He shifts, just a little, burrowing into that warmth.

He has no idea what time it is, but he’s set an alarm and since that alarm hasn’t gone off yet, it’s definitely too early to think about getting up. And Nursey doesn’t want to wake up Dex, not yet.

They fell asleep with their limbs tangled last night. They still are, tangled up in each other, Nursey curled against Dex, his leg hooked around Dex’s, Dex’s fingers clutching at Nursey’s shirt. Nursey’s head is tucked under Dex’s chin. He’s pretty sure that he didn’t fall asleep like this. He remembers Dex slowly drifting off while Nursey, tucked against his side, planted little kisses on his neck.

He would have loved to find some other nice spots to kiss. Getting into bed was a mistake. They were both exhausted from the game and their heated kisses soon turned into lazy ones. Still good kisses, though, very good kisses. Nursey isn’t complaining, not in the slightest. It’s almost like he can still feel Dex’s hands on him, can still hear Dex say, “I’ve been thinking about this,” a breathless admission whispered against Nursey’s lips.

Now Dex’s breathing is slow and even. He’s snoring, but it’s so quiet that it won’t keep Nursey awake. He goes back to sleep, or at least he thinks he does because his alarm rings what feels like a minute later and it can’t really have been just a minute. He must have been asleep.

“Turn it off,” Dex grumbles.

Nursey fumbles for his phone and ends up on top of Dex so he can get to the nightstand. Dex lets out a surprised huff, but wraps his arms back around Nursey the second the alarm is off.

“Hey,” Nursey mutters against Dex’s chest.

“Hey,” Dex says, his voice still rough, sleepy.

“So…” Nursey isn’t sure how he’s always better at putting things together in his head than at saying them out loud. “That happened.”

“Yeah.”

Nursey hums and props himself up. The thing is, he doesn’t really care what this makes them, if Dex is his boyfriend or whatever, that’s not something they need to figure out this early in the morning, but– “Do you think there’s a chance that it’ll happen again?”

Dex blinks at him. “Yeah,” he says again.

“I love that you’re so talkative in the morning.”

“Get out of my bed, Nurse.”

Nursey kisses Dex’s jaw. “Actually, this is my bed.” He nods at the other bed, the sheets without a crinkle. “Yours is over there.”

“Ugh, stubble.” Dex pushes at him, with half-hearted effort.

Nursey rubs his face against Dex’s. “What did you say?”

“Get the fuck out of this bed.”

“You like it,” Nursey says, because Dex doesn’t even look grumpy and only flicks at Nursey’s shoulder in reply. He doesn’t even disagree. Nursey does crawl out of bed, though, because he doesn’t want to be late for breakfast and one of them needs to get moving at some point.

He tugs off his shirt on his way to the bathroom and glances over his shoulder to see if Dex is watching.

He is.

*

“So,” Nursey says. He pushes the button for the elevator.

Dex tilts his head. “Yeah?”

The hallway is, once again, deserted. Nursey is pretty sure that there are a bunch of other people from the team on this floor, but there’s a good chance that they’re downstairs for breakfast already. Nursey and Dex are a couple of minutes late. Like, ten. Maybe fifteen.

Nursey leans closer to Dex, puts his hand on the small of Dex’s back and plants a kiss on Dex’s cheek.

They haven’t really talked about whether or not they’re telling anyone about this; Nursey is pretty sure that they’ll notice on their own if this keeps happening and, if Dex isn’t opposed, this will definitely keep happening. Anyway, there’s no need to sit them all down and make an announcement or whatever.

The elevator’s doors slide open and Dex pulls Nursey with him by the hem of his shirt.

Nursey really likes how all of this has turned out. He was, well, he wasn’t _scared_ , exactly, but he did consider that Dex might end up regretting this. That he might be angry. Then again, it was Dex who asked if this was gonna make things weird between them.

Honestly, as far as Nursey is concerned, things have never been better.

The doors slide shut.

Dex pushes the button for the first floor.

Nursey glances at the doors, then at Dex. Dex is looking right back at him. He still has his fingers curled around the hem of Nursey’s shirt and he tugs, so lightly that Nursey nearly misses it. Nursey smirks and leans in.

His lips have barely touched Dex’s when the elevator stops.

“Uh…”

Eighth floor.

The doors slide open. Bitty is there in the hallway, smiling down at his phone like he just won the lottery. He looks up and blinks at them, brown eyes wide. It’s probably pretty obvious what they were doing. It’s not like Bitty caught them right at it, but Nursey is still really close to Dex, like, he’s basically plastered against him, and Dex still has his hand on Nursey's back.

“Mornin’,” Bitty says and waves his hand dismissively. “No worries, I’ll take the next one.”

Nursey tips an invisible hat and hits the _close doors_ button.

Dex huffs out a quiet laugh.

“Yo,” Nursey says and gives him a poke, “we were just being friendly.” He pulls Dex closer by the collar of his shirt and hopes to whatever deity is listening that no one else will want to get on this elevator.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a prompt I got on tumblr and it sort of got away from me a little bit.
> 
> (I'm @zimmermaenner if you wanna say hi.)
> 
> Kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)


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